Bottle-crate.



W. W. BIRNSTGCK 6L C. W. VOGEL.

BOTTLE CRATE.

APPLscMxoN mso MN. a. 191s.

Patented Mar. 12, i918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

W. W. BIRNSTOCK 6': C.-W. VOGEL. BOTTLE CRATE.

APPLICATION msn MN. a. ma.

gw. Patented Mal. 12, 191s.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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lalito/Lum! 'narran srarns ra'rnivr essieu.

WILLIAM W. BIRN'STGCK AND CHARLES W. VOGEL, OF YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS TO HENCI- & DBOMGOLD COMPANY, 0F YORK, PENNSYLVANIA.

BOTTLE-CRATE.

masses.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 12, 1918.

Application led January 8, 1918. Serial No. 210,822.

To all whom t may concern Bc it known that we, lNILLIAM XV. Binnsaocn and CHARLES W.- VOGEL, citizens of the United States, and residents of the city of York, in the county of York and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottle-Crates, of which the following is a specification.

Cnr invention relates to that class of bottle crates in which the grids for the reception of the bottles are composed of evenly spaced longitudinal and transverse wires crossing one another at right angles, to produce a grid with square holes or openings for reception of individual bottles. When round bottles are put in square holes an open space of triangular shape is left between the bottle and the sides of the hole at each one of the four corners, and this opening furnishes an avenue of escape for cracked ice which not infrequently is placed upon the grid around the bottles for cooling purposes-the opportunity for the escape being largely increased when the adjoining corners of four holes meet at the points where the grid wires cross one another, or the adjoining corners of two holes meet at the points where such wires are secured to the ends and sides respectively of the box. It is our object to substantially close these escape passages at the corners of the square openings in the grid, and our invention consists in the means which we have devised for this purpose and which we will now proceed to describe in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification.

In said drawings- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a crate embodying our improvements in their pre ferred form-portions of the sides and ends of the crate being broken away and represented in dotted lines in order to expose more clearly to view the devices in which our invention is embodied.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the crate.

Fig. 3 is a detached view of one of the combination fasteners and corner washers associated with the cross wires of the grid at the points where wires enter and are secured to the sides of the crate.

Fig. 4 is a view of a modiiied form of the same. i ,Y

Fig. 5 is a view of one of the washers of the double corner washer of Figs. 3, 4f

and 6, and four times the superficial area of the single corner washer of Fig. 5.

The crate A has a wire bottom B, an intermediate wire grid D, and a top wire grid C. With the top grid C are associated, in accordance with our invention, washers which convert the contour of the individual openings in said grid from square to Octagonal as shown in the plan view Fig. 2.

The longitudinal wires of the top grid C, the intermediate grid D, and the bottom B are secured to the end walls of the crate in any suitable way, as for example by hook and staple fasteners o b, the hooks a being on the end of the wires and hooking over the cross bars of the staples b as indicated in Fig. l and as more fully set forth and claimed in our application Serial No. 202,047 on which Letters Patent will issue of even date herewith-this feature forming no part of our present invention. At the point where each longitudinal wire of the grid C meets either end wall of the crate, there is a washer, 1, shown detached in Fig. 6, of dimensions to serve for the meeting corners next to the end wall of the crate of the two grid openings on opposite sides of the said wire. The washer is made of suitable material such as galvanized sheet metal, and has the shape substantially of a right angled isosceles triangle. It is secured by its basethe hypotenuse of the triangle-to the end of the crate from which it extends out horizontally immediately over the grid wire as shown in Fig. l, for which purpose the base may be provided with an upturned flange 2 pierced with holes for the passage of thel nails which attach it to the end wall of the crate. rlhe apex of the thus-placed triangular washer is directly over and in the longitudinal vertical plane of the grid wire, thus dividing the triangular washer into two symmetrical portions which spanv the two corners, next to the end wall of the crate,

Y of the contiguous grid openings on opposite.

sidesV of the wire. In order to hold the washer 1 down in close connection with the wire, apiece of metal is punched out from the washer on three of its sides and is then turned down at right angles to the washer, this turned down portion 2um having an eye 3 punched in it for the passage of the grid wire, and thus forming a guide connection between the wire and washer which holds them in proper relation to one another.

In the grid openings at each of the four corners of the crate, there are no grid wires in the corners of those openings which are formed by the meeting faces of the sides and ends yof the crate. At these points we make use ofa sheet metal'washer 4 of the l same contour as washer 1, but having, when in position, only halfthe superficial area of the latter, inasmuch as it has only one corner to span instead of two. The superficial area of the washer 4- when in position in the crate is represented by the triangular area included by the dotted lines x in the detached view of this device shown in Fig.

V5. The surplus material outside of the lines m represents the portions of the washer by which it is secured to the side and end of the crate, the fin 6 along one of the two sides of the triangle which meet one another at right angles being intended to fit into a horizontal slit or kerf 20 formed in the inner face of the end of the crate which is solid at that point, and the fin 7 along the other of said sides having an upturned portion 8, at right angles to the face of the fin, to enter Ia vertical slot 21 formed for its reception in one or the other of the horizontal meeting edges of the two pieces y of which each side of the crate is composed. The manner in which these washers are applied to and secured in the corners of the crate will be readily understood by reference to Fig. l, wherein the near side of the crate is broken away at each of its corners sufficiently to expose these washers. The plain iin 6 of the washer is always fitted in the end of the crate, and the flanged iin 7 is always placed between the meeting edges of the two pieces y of the side of the box, with its upturned portion 8 seated in the vertical slot 21 formed inrone or the other of the meeting edges of the two side pieces y. This vertical slot21 is formed at one end of the crate in the upper one, and at thev opposite Y end'of the crate in the lower one, of the two pieces z/.which compose each side of the crate. As for example, at the left hand kcorner of the crate in Fig. 1, the .slot 21 is in the lower one of the two pieces y, and consequently the washer is turned to bring its anchoring flange 8 in downward position to enter the slot 21 at that point, the lin 6 on the other edge of the washer being in position to enter and engage the kerf 2Q in the left hand end of the crate. At the other or right hand end of the crate, the position of the washer 4 must of course be changed to bring its plain fin 6 next to the vright hand end of the crate. This can be respect to the right hand end of the crate,

but the flangeSis turned up,instead of down, and therefore the vertical anchoring slot 21 must be formed in the upper one instead of the lower one of the meeting edges of the two side pieces y. In this way the necessity for making the washers rights and lefts is avoided, and the same style of washer canbe used at all fourcorners of the crate. We recess one or the other of the meetingY faces of the two side pieces y usually the upper side piece y, to an extent sufficient to permit the portion of the washer lying therein to be flush with the face of the same, so that when the upper and lower side pieces are brought together they may form a close and tight joint. Y

In our aforesaid prior application Serial No. 202,047, for the purpose of securing the transverse grid wires to theV sides of the crate, we provide side pieces y with recesses between their meeting edges and vertical slots in said meeting edges at right angles to said recesses, and transverse grid wires having hook-formed endsseated in said recesses, and anchoring members provided with eyesthrough which the legs of the hooks pass, the anchoring members being thus detachably held thereon in vertical position crosswise of the wires, and entering and engaging the vertical slots in the meeting edges of the side pieces. In the crate shown herein we malte use for this purpose of the same devices as those just referred to, but we associate therewith, and more particularly with the anchoring members, washers which span the interior opposite corners of two adjoining grid openings next to the side of the crate, and we prefer-to so associate them that the anchoring member and the corner covering washer, shall be in one piece. Such a construction is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3. Y

The superficial exposed area of the `washer designated by the numeral 9, included in the triangular space bounded by the dotted line e, Fig. 3, is the saine as that of the washer 1, Y

and of the same shape and with the same function. The surplus material beyond the line e forms a fin 10 which is housed in a is slit crosswise to form two tongues 11, 11, which are bent over, one upward and the other downward, to enter the vertical slots /z L, in the meeting edges of the two side pieces y, and constitute the anchoring members for the transverse grid wire. In the web of the doi'vnturned anchoring member are formed two eyes 12, through which are threaded the legs of the hook e on the end of the transverse grid wire. The device when in place in the crate occupies the position shown in Fig.v 1,`the washer portion of it spanning the interior opposite corners of the two adjoining grid openings on opposite sides of the transverse wire with which its anchoring member is connected.

Instea d of making the device-washer and anchoring member-in one piece they can be made separate and then associated together in any suitable way, for example, as illustrated in Fig. 4, by associating with the disk-like anchoring member f and hook e of the transverse grid wire engaging the same, of our said application Serial No. 202,047, a corner covering washer 13, having in its rea-r portion a longitudinal slot to enable it to lit over and upon the disk, which projects up through the slot as shown far enough to engage rthe anchoring slot in the upper side piece when the two side pieces are brought togetherthe corner covering member being thus firmly held in its proper place.

If desired the flat triangular portion of this combined anchoring and corner-covering member may, like the washer 1 in Fig. 6, be provided with a down-turned portion punched out from the body of the washer and provided with an eye for the passage of the grid wire, as shown by dotted lines at 21 and 3a in Figs. 3 and 4.

The washers for covering the four corners of the openings assembled around each point in the grid where the longitudinal and trans verse grid wires intersect are indicated by the numeral 14. They are sheet metal washers, square in contour, with a superficial area equal to that of the four corners they are to span and cover. They are crimped to receive the wires-the two crimps with which each is provided, extending diagonally from edge to edge of the washer and at right angles to one another, and each washer is provided with a central circular opening as shown at the intersection of the two diagonal crimps, in order to accommodate the two wires at the point where they cross one another.

These washers when fitted to the wires as shown in the drawing are tightly secured in place in any suitable way, preferably by crimping them in between proper dies under pressure upon the wires. Washers for securing together the grid wires at the points where they cross one another, are Shown applied and secured to the wires in a similar way in our application Serial No. 202,047; but as there shown they are round andnot square, and they do not cover the open corner spaces at these' points nearly so effectively as do the square diagonally crimped washers 14 here shown.

Having describedvour improvements and the best way known to us at present for carrying the same into practical effect, we state in conclusion that vwe do not limit ourselves strictly to the structural details hereinbefore shown and set forth in illustration of our invention since manifestly the same can be varied in a number of particulars without departure from the spirit of the invention.

But what we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Lette-rs Patent is:

1. A bottle crate having side pieces with recesses between their meeting edges and vertical slots in said meeting ed ges at right angles to said recesses; anchoring members adapted to enter and engage the vertical slots in the meeting edges of the side pieces; transverse grid wires provided with hook ends to detachably engage the anchoring members, and triangular washers secured to said anchoring members, and extending out therefrom between the meeting edges of the side piece-s int-o the interior of the crate in position to extend over and cover the corners, next to the sides of the crate, of the two grid openings on opposite sides of the transverse grid wires with which said washers are respectively associated, substantially as set forth.

2. The sheet metal combined anchoring member and corner covering washer for use in connection with the transverse grid wires of a crate, having along its base anges at right angles to the face of the washer constituting anchoring members adapted to enter vertical slots formed for their reception in themeeting edges of the two side pieces, the triangular body of the washer adapted to extend out from between the said meeting edges into the interior of the crate, the turneddown anchoring flange being provided with eyes to engage the hook end of the grid wire with which it is associated in such manner as to bring the apex of the triangular washer over and in the vertical plane of said wire, substantially as set forth.

3. A bottle crate having a grid composed of intersecting transverse and longitudinal wires secured respectively to the sides and ends of the crate, and triangular sheet metal washers, each having along its base a flange at right angles to the body of the washer by which it is secured to the crate end with its apex over, and in the vertical plane of, the longitudinal grid wire with which'it is associated to as to overlap and cover the interior opposite corners, next to the crate end, of the two individual bottle receiving openings on opposite sides of said wire, and a down-turned portion punched out from the body of the washer and provided with an eye fo-r the passage of the said grid wire, substantially as set forth.

t. A bottle crate having a grid in the horizontal plane of the meeting edges of the two pieces of which each side of the crate is composed consisting of longitudinal and transverse wires crossing one another and Isecured respectively to the ends and sides of the crate; and triangular sheet metal washers to bridge the corners formed by the meeting ends of the crate sides and ends at the four corners of the crate, composed each of a flat triangular washer portion 4:, having a iin 6 along one of its sides and a fin 7 and flange 8 along another of its sides, the ends of the .crate being formed with horizontal kerfs 20 to receive the fins 6, and the meeting edges of the side pieces being formed with vertical slots 21 to receive the flanges 8, said slots 21 in each side of the crate, being formed at one end in the lower side piece and at the other end in the upper side piece, to admit of the interchangeable use of the saine make of washer at all four corners of the crate, substantially as set forth.

cured to the grid wires at their crossing points as set forth, and formed each with two wire receiving crimps extending across the washer between diagonally opposite corners thereof, and with a centralv opening at the intersection of said crimps to accommodate the two gridwires at their crossing point, the superficial area of the washers being suflicient in extent to evenly and symmetrically overlap and cover triangular spaces at the corners of the four openings which meet at the crossing points of the grid wires and to impart an octagonal shape to the openings which have their corners thus covered, for the purpose specified.

lIn testimony whereof we afliX our signatures.

WILLIAM w. Biinvsroci.l CHARLES w. voGEL.

A Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each,` by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

